SIR WM. E. LOGAN'S VIEWS. 379 



in question in Vermont, nearly one hundred species, almost all new. Twenty-six of these come from a 

 white limestone, and seem to be the true representatives of the Primordial fauna, and he cites among them 

 Conocephalites, Arionellus, Dibdlocephalus, etc., that is, very characteristic forms of this fauna. 



" In another limestone, which .is gray, he finds thirty-nine species, all different from the first, and repre- 

 senting, on the contrary, the most distinct types of the second fauna. Finally, the black schists furnish 

 him with Graptolite, Lingula, etc., etc., fossils which at first sight cannot determine a horizon, because 

 they are found upon several Silurian horizons. 



" While waiting for those very obscure stratigraphical relations to be disentangled, and without commit- 

 ting in any manner Mr. Billings, who should preserve the independence of his opinion, I may yet express to 

 you my view wholly personal, and of which at this moment I take the entire responsibility. I think, then, 

 that this region of schists and limestones of Vermont, in other words the Taconic system, will reproduce in 

 America what took place in England as to the Malvern Hills, and in Spain for the Cantabrian chain, that 

 is to say, the Primordial fauna, after having been disregarded, will regain its rights and its place, usurped 

 for a time by the second fauna. 



" You see it is a great and noble question, whose final solution will complete the imposing harmonies 

 existing already between the series of palasozoic faunae of America and that of the contemporaneous faunae 

 of Europe, leaving to each the imprint peculiar to its continent. 



" I can well imagine, from the position previously taken by our learned American brethren on the subject 

 of the Taconic system, that the final solution of which I speak will not be obtained without debate, and 

 perhaps some wounding of self-love, for some opinions that appear to be dominant must be abandoned. 



" But experience has taught me that in such cases the most elevated minds turn always first to the light, 

 and put themselves at the head of the movement of reform. Thus, when in 1850 I recognized the Primor- 

 dial fauna in the Malvern Hills, where the second fauna only had been found, Sir Henry de la Beche and 

 Sir Eoderick Murchison were the first to adopt my views, to which little by little the other official geologists 

 agreed ; Edward Forbes ranged himself publicly on my side in 1853 in ' The Geological Survey,' while 

 others still hesitated, until now there is no longer any opponent. 



" I think there will be the same experience in America, and that in a few years from this time the opin- 

 ions of your savans will have undergone a great change as regards this question. 



" It is a fine opportunity for Dr. Emmons to reproduce his former observations and ideas with more 



success than in 1844. 



" Yours very truly, 



J. BAKRANDE." 



REMARKS ON THE FAUNA OF THE QUEBEC GROUP OF ROCKS AND THE PRIMOR- 

 DIAL ZONE OF CANADA. (IN A LETTER ADDRESSED TO M. JOACHIM BARRANDE, 

 OF PARIS, BY SIR WM. E. LOGAN, DIRECTOR OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF 

 CANADA.) 



Montreal, 31st Dec., 1860. 



MY DEAR M. BARRANDE : 



I am much indebted to you for your letter of the 6th of August, which was accompanied by a copy 

 of your communication to Prof. Bronn, of Heidelberg, dated 16th July. Agreeably to your request, I took 

 an early opportunity of letting Mr. Hall have a copy of your communication to Prof. Bronn, and he received 

 it on the llth or 12th September, 1860. 



I am of course aware, from the correspondence you have had with my friend Mr. Billings and myself, how 

 far you are acquainted with our discoveries at Quebec. On two occasions, just previous to the receipt 

 of your last letter to Mr. Billings (received the 8th November), I devoted the short time I could spare 

 from other engagements connected with the Geological Survey, to further researches at Point Levi. I have 

 satisfied myself, notwithstanding the conglomerate aspect of the bands of rock which contain our new 

 fossils, that the fossils are of the age of the strata. Without entering at present on minute details of struc- 

 ture, I may say that the chief part of the specimens, found up to this time, are from two parallel out-crops, 



